A review by bgluckman
The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar

2.0

Tobar is a writer, inasmuch as he can string together sentences--so many sentences--in this Bataan Death March of a book. Clocking in at about 150 pages too long, and covering ground much more ably tread by TC Boyle in The Tortilla Curtain, Tobar's caricatures aim for our sympathy and fail miserably to earn it as they shift aimlessly from whatever point the author is using them to make to the next. Perhaps the most offensive part is when Tobar compares himself to Roberto Bolaño and judges himself superior. Mr. Tobar, I know Roberto Bolaño, I've read Roberto Bolaño, Robert Bolaño is a favorite author of mine--and you're no Roberto Bolaño.